The Efficacy of Border Security
By Isabela Barrera
Historically, immigration and southwest border apprehensions have long been one of the most detrimental issues involving Texas and its borders. In an attempt to control and decrease the seemingly ever-changing number of apprehensions and illegal entry along the Texas-Mexico border, policymakers such as President Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott have responded by drastically increasing the funds that are allocated to preventative measures and the construction of a border wall and/or additional sections to it that would separate Texas and its borders with Mexico. The onset of these efforts began in 2006 when the U.S. Senate voted in a bipartisan 80 to 19 majority to pass the Secure Fence Act, which authorized the construction of physical infrastructure to secure the border (Wagner). However, due to its easily compromised nature, the border fence concept revealed an emergence for reinvestment in 2017 (Homeland Security). During this time, President Trump signed the 2017 Executive Order №13767, titled “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” which directed executive agencies to secure the southern border and curtail illegal immigration into the U.S., calling for immediate construction of a wall along the southern border of Texas. The efficacy of these efforts has been revealed over time and especially in recent years. My analysis will focus on the data from the Texas border patrol sectors, and how in the context of continued efforts to curb border apprehensions, the numbers have yet to reflect a notable change or reveal a connection to a controlled border security system since 2016.
As of 2020, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have implemented the construction of a border wall system that includes a combination of various types of infrastructure such as personnel and technology to meet the challenges of a dynamic border threat environment and achieve operational control of the border (Homeland Security). The efficacy of these implementations has sparked controversy among the general public as they involve the allocation and spending of billions of dollars on the southern border of Texas. Experts and most people who live along the border, whatever their politics, have agreed that any barrier is effective only where sufficiently reinforced by agents and technology (Wagner). An attempt to fill the physical gap that manifested through a lack of federal immigration law enforcement can be seen in 2021 when Governor Abbot signed into law House Bill 11, capping off the final piece of a massive effort by lawmakers to bolster the ranks of state police, increase technology and establish intelligence operations units on the Texas-Mexico border (Aguilar). Signing into law a nearly $2 billion border security funding bill, Abbott virtually tripled the amount the state would spend on border defense in the next two-year budget cycle (Barragán).
Prior to HB11, studies on the trends of illegal entry and apprehensions ramped up after 2019 due to a spike in apprehensions in September of 2020, following the sharp decrease of border apprehensions that year. During this time, only the Laredo Border Patrol sector saw an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended, from 2,521 in 2019 to 2,641 in 2020, a 5% jump (Aguilar). In the other four sectors along the Texas-Mexico border, the number of minors apprehended without an adult dropped between 32% and 70% that year, alongside family units, which dropped by as much as 90% in those sectors (Aguilar). In attempting to conceptualize this drastic discrepancy, Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group, attributed the decline to the COVID-19 pandemic and the administration’s increased border enforcement efforts (Aguilar). This finding alludes to the lingering desperation of migrants to reach U.S. soil through Texas as the number of apprehensions proceed to increase or change each year despite continued efforts.
Leaving perceptions aside, what does the data show? After analyzing the data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there does not seem to be a correlation between the recent number of border apprehensions and the building of additional sections of the border wall in Texas after 2017. The results of this research imply that a seemingly effective border security system has yet to make an impact on the continued encounters of unaccompanied children and family units seeking entry into the U.S. along the Texas-Mexico border. As seen in Figures 1 and 2, the number of border apprehensions of unaccompanied children in the fiscal year 2019 surpassed the apprehensions in nearly every sector of the fiscal year 2016. The total number of apprehensions in 2016 was 48,571 and 60,291 in 2019, a 24% increase. Though a significant drop in apprehensions can be seen in 2020, a 74% decrease from 2016, we cannot attribute the drop to a progressive border security system in light of the pandemic and increased border enforcement efforts during that time.
These effects are not exclusive to unaccompanied children. Figure 4, reflecting the number of family units apprehended along the southwestern border of Texas, shows even greater spikes beginning in 2019. As you can see in both figures 3 and 4, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and the El Paso sectors show the biggest jump in apprehensions. The percent change from 2016 to 2019 reveals more than a 300% increase in the RGV sector. In El Paso, the data reveals a nearly 1000% increase in apprehensions from 2018 to 2019; more notably, a whopping 2,250% increase from 2016 to 2019. Following the collective decrease in numbers across all sectors in 2020, we can see that the number of family unit apprehensions has not only risen but become eerily similar to the numbers first drawn from the fiscal year 2016. This further calls into question the efficacy of border barriers, security measures, and the current allocation of funds.
The findings of this research do not suggest that the past and recent efforts to curtail illegal entry into the U.S. through Texas from Mexico have had no impact. Rather, they reveal the vicious cycle of the border crisis and the flaws in the policies being implemented now and in the past. This is not to say that increased funding and border barriers are ineffective in the protection of our borders; however, it is to say that merely increasing the funding of CPB and the construction of the wall is simply not enough. It’s the strategic allocation of those funds and the innovative ways in which they are used that will translate into better outcomes and aid Texas and our Nation from continually repeating history. Perhaps, continued research on the sectors making those larger impacts, i.e. the RGV and El Paso, their usage of funds, and the level of technology and security present is what will eventually produce the desired solution for the U.S. and the safety of Texas’ borders. Of course, successfully securing Texas and its borders is by no means an easy task; however, not only time but innovative effort will tell.